Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's lacrosse team celebrated its senior class Saturday with a victory at Joe Walton Stadium, earning a 15-7 win over Cleveland State and in the process welcoming a new all-time leading scorer for the program. In earning their second consecutive triumph, the Colonials improved to 5-5 (.500) on the 2021 campaign.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Vikings struck first in the contest, with Stephen Masi scoring an unassisted goal to give Cleveland State (2-5) the early lead. RMU would reel off three goals in a six-minute span to grab a 3-1 advantage before Masi closed the scoring in the first quarter with his second tally of the tilt. The Colonials tied it on a goal from senior
Jake Boudreau, sophomore
Elliot Holden pushed RMU in front at 6:51 of the first quarter and sophomore
Ben Starkey gave the Colonials a two-goal advantage, 3-1, at 2:36.
HISTORY
At the 14:11 mark of the second quarter, graduate student
Ryan Smith etched his name in RMU lore by sending a shot past Kevin Sobey for career point No. 196. In style, too. Smith charged from behind the goal and, over the shoulder, ripped it past Sobey for the historic tally. It helped Smith move into sole possession of first place for the most points scored in RMU history, eclipsing Trevor Moore (2008-11). Smith, fresh off being
named to the Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America Honorable Mention Team, paced the Colonials in the win over Cleveland State with five points thanks to three goals and a pair of assists. Smith also added three ground balls and three caused turnovers against the Vikings and now owns an even 200 points for his career.
FUN RUN
Chase Baker pulled the Vikings to within a goal, 4-3, but RMU closed the first half on a three-goal spurt to grab an 7-3 advantage at the break. In the first half eight different Colonials scored, as junior
Johnny Chaisson, junior
Brandon Sulhoff and graduate student
Jimmy Perkins joined the point party. Perkins scored the final goal of the first half and notched the first marker after the break, scoring on a feed from Smith at 11:40 that stretched the surge for RMU to four and gave the Colonials an 8-3 cushion.
LAST DANCE, FIRST CHANCE
Cleveland State was able to close its deficit to 8-6 with a three-goal run, including a pair from Chase Baker, but the Colonials scored seven of the final eight goals of the contest to seal their third victory in as many games against the Vikings. Smith started the run with a pair of goals, pushing his career total to 130 in the process, and also assisted on the final marker of the game to help rookie
Liam Keane notch his first NCAA Division I goal.
KEEP AWAY
Sophomore
Liam Rosenthal picked up the win in net for RMU, improving to 4-2 on the year by recording 10 saves. Six of his saves came in the first half, including a pair in the final 2:45 that helped the Colonials preserve a four-goal lead at the break.
BALANCE SHEET
Nine different Colonials scored in the win over Cleveland State Saturday. In addition to the efforts of Smith, four other RMU student-athletes produced multi-goal outputs. Boudreau, Sulhoff and Perkins each scored twice as part of the starting lineup, while Holden scored a pair to lead the reserves. Sulhoff also added an assist and finished with three points, while Boudreau tied Chaisson for team-high accolades in ground balls (6).
UP NEXT
RMU returns to the road for its final two games of the 2021 campaign, beginning Friday, April 16, with a game under the lights at Bucknell. Faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. The Colonials conclude the regular season Saturday, May 1, at Utah. The contest will help Perkins come full circle, as the local product from Quaker Valley High School originally spent four years at RMU (2015-18) before enrolling at Utah as a graduate transfer. He is one of two men's lacrosse student-athletes in 2021 to earn a seventh year of athletic eligibility, which he is concluding with the Colonials.
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